buzzcut73:You do know our bases in Guam have been there since just after WWII don't you? They aren't exactly new. One of the reasons there is a continued presence is so that we don't have to build stupidly expensive bases in other countries. Last I knew, we were about to close our expensive base in Okinawa and move that operation to Guam.

Aside from all of that, Guam is a US territory, so we're pretty much obligated to defend it. Or do they not count because brown people live over there?

From what I've seen of overseas bases, basically everything has been rebuilt on that base twice over, or had the equivalent assets invested in them. The age of the base is irrelevant.

And yes, we are obligated to defend it. That's not really relevant either. People never want to justify the status quo with a quantifiable argument. Apparently we just need to keep doing shiat that is arguably good no matter the cost

Except when it comes to shiat in our own country.

And considering it's 1/10th the size of Rhode Island with 1/10th the population and no significant natural resources, how many military assets are required to secure their defense? I guarantee you the current answer to that is "as much as we can possibly justify"

Or we could close a military base in a region where we can just as easily use an allies territory and facilities. Like we do when we don't have the option of building stupidly expensive bases just for the sake of it. In fact we could even encourage other nations to step up to the plate since apparently we are all in this together. (the whole reason everyone loves us doing it, we pay and they don't)

Fark, that would be terrible. The globe would run red and we would rue the day.

GUAM IS VITALand my ass is a corn muffin.

Look at a map. Together, Guam, Midway and Hawaii pretty much command the Pacific Ocean.

I love chicks speaking Russian. I heard one chick say one thing on one of those meteor videos and got all distracted. Maybe it's that talking to a chick with a Russian accent makes me feel like James Bond.

The Russians have been flying ELINT modified Bears to the edge of and sometimes into our air space since the 60s. It's kinda their thing. We fly out and say GTFO and they turn around and go back to Russia. Everyone goes home and nothing happens (except that one time when someone collided with one by accident)

Doktor_Zhivago:The Russians have been flying ELINT modified Bears to the edge of and sometimes into our air space since the 60s. It's kinda their thing. We fly out and say GTFO and they turn around and go back to Russia. Everyone goes home and nothing happens (except that one time when someone collided with one by accident)

The Bestest:Doktor_Zhivago: The Russians have been flying ELINT modified Bears to the edge of and sometimes into our air space since the 60s. It's kinda their thing. We fly out and say GTFO and they turn around and go back to Russia. Everyone goes home and nothing happens (except that one time when someone collided with one by accident)

Who the hell cares. This is Russia we're talking about. They're practically a 3rd world country, and they do this all the time. Let me know when Zimbabwe sends nuclear capable bombers over Guam...that'd be a story.

Tenatra:Since Vladimir Putin reclaimed the Russian presidency, U.S. officials said the number of such flights in the vicinity of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska have increased, but encounters with U.S. aircraft have remained "generally very professional."

How would the encounters end up less than professional without setting them off? Cutting them off in their air traffic lane? If their Russian road rage videos speak for the masses, then it seems like something even that little could spark a war.

/Yea I know their pilots fark around with us by buzzing our territorial waters, we launch our fighters and escort them back.

Back in the day, it was common for the gun turret(s) in the Bear to track the intercepting US or other allied fighter. So depending on the model of the Bear that was between two to six 23mm cannons pointing at you from pretty much point blank range. Not very friendly.....

The Bestest:As been said, this happens pretty much weekly, particularly in Alaska. Non-story.

"As Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state."

MurphyMurphy:And yes, we are obligated to defend it. That's not really relevant either. People never want to justify the status quo with a quantifiable argument. Apparently we just need to keep doing shiat that is arguably good no matter the cost

HighOnCraic:[www.tommyjournal.com image 539x503]"As Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state."

Apparently Putin's getting more and more unpopular with an increasingly sophisticated Russian middle class, so his tactics get cruder and cruder to distract the window licker vote into kneejerk anti-Americanism.Might work for him, maybe he actually means business. I dunno.

ethics-gradient:Apparently Putin's getting more and more unpopular with an increasingly sophisticated Russian middle class, so his tactics get cruder and cruder to distract the window licker vote into kneejerk anti-Americanism.Might work for him, maybe he actually means business. I dunno.

Really, people are thinking too much about this.

Putin's not going to do anything particularly provocative, especially with the G20-Finance going on this week.

ethics-gradient:Apparently Putin's getting more and more unpopular with an increasingly sophisticated Russian middle class, so his tactics get cruder and cruder to distract the window licker vote into kneejerk anti-Americanism.Might work for him, maybe he actually means business. I dunno.

Our foreign policy is weak and our president prefers projecting power against terrorists instead of world powers. Look for the Chinese to make some noise around Taiwan next. America has bigger teeth but our lead wolf is a puppy.

archichris:Our foreign policy is weak and our president prefers projecting power against terrorists instead of world powers. Look for the Chinese to make some noise around Taiwan next. America has bigger teeth but our lead wolf is a puppy.

Holy shiat.. you are dangerously clueless.I consider myself slightly to the right of the President in terms of foreign affairs (which would make me damn near imperialist), but what you just posted.. wow.

PacManDreaming:jake_lex: I wonder how many American planes were probing Russian defenses at around the same time. Or Chinese defenses. Or North Korean defenses. Etc. etc.

Non-story.

Yep. I keep forgetting that a lot of Farkers were born after the Cold War. If something like this is making them wet their pants, they would've been nervous wrecks in the '60s, '70s and '80s.

Actually, I'm kind of wondering if they honestly got lost and were too embarrassed to admit it, since TParanoidFA implied it was a training exercise. Or, hell, something equally stupid. I seriously doubt Russia's going to actually try fighting us after the Cold War, there's probably a lot of people in both America and Russia who would go let our leaders know where to shove it.

Tenatra:Since Vladimir Putin reclaimed the Russian presidency, U.S. officials said the number of such flights in the vicinity of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska have increased, but encounters with U.S. aircraft have remained "generally very professional."

How would the encounters end up less than professional without setting them off? Cutting them off in their air traffic lane? If their Russian road rage videos speak for the masses, then it seems like something even that little could spark a war.

/Yea I know their pilots fark around with us by buzzing our territorial waters, we launch our fighters and escort them back.

PsiChick:PacManDreaming: jake_lex: I wonder how many American planes were probing Russian defenses at around the same time. Or Chinese defenses. Or North Korean defenses. Etc. etc.

Non-story.

Yep. I keep forgetting that a lot of Farkers were born after the Cold War. If something like this is making them wet their pants, they would've been nervous wrecks in the '60s, '70s and '80s.

Actually, I'm kind of wondering if they honestly got lost and were too embarrassed to admit it, since TParanoidFA implied it was a training exercise. Or, hell, something equally stupid. I seriously doubt Russia's going to actually try fighting us after the Cold War, there's probably a lot of people in both America and Russia who would go let our leaders know where to shove it.

I would think it was a navigational training mission. As in, find this little island in the Pacific ocean and come back. They also do this with our carrier task forces.

Somaticasual:PsiChick: there's probably a lot of people in both America and Russia who would go let our leaders know where to shove it.

Unfortunately for us, most of the ones in russia are probably in that same prison camp with pussy riot..

Eh, I dunno, I think your average Russian citizen probably won't piss the government off, but if full-blown war was threatened, they'd be pretty damn political all of a sudden. It depends on if the war looks like it'll affect either side. If both sides look like they might see, say, nukes...yeah, that'll go over like an ACME anvil near a roadrunner.